Choosing a Firefox update channel

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 161183
  • Created:
  • Creator: Mike Kaply
  • Comment: Add URLS for Releases
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: rtanglao
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: Yes
  • Readied for localization:
  • Readied for localization by: AliceWyman
Revision Source
Revision Content

We currently offer two paths for Firefox updates: rapid release and Extended Support Release (ESR).

  • Rapid release: receives major updates every six weeks and minor updates such as crash fixes and security fixes as needed during those six weeks.
  • Extended Support Release (ESR): receives major updates on average every 42 weeks with minor updates such as crash fixes, security fixes and policy updates as needed, but at least every six weeks.

In addition to different update cycles, the ESR currently has access to additional policies that are not available on rapid release.

  • Integrated Authentication (SPNEGO and NTLM)
  • Disabling Application Updates
  • Disabling System Addon Updates
  • Managing Extensions
  • Changing the Homepage
  • Changing the Firstrun page
  • Changing the Update page
  • Showing the search bar
  • Changing search engines
  • Filtering Websites

We're investigating making those policies available if you are connected to an Active Directory server.

We recommend using the rapid release if you can, but understand that there are reasons to use the ESR, particularly around testing of internal applications and policy support.